Lance Simmens: Our bedrock institutions are under direct assault from the White House and its accomplices on Capitol Hill. Congress can change, the Executive branch can change, but the Supreme Court still maintains as a bastion of longevity.

Lance Simmens: Donald Trump acts as though he has much to hide, like a dog who has despoiled the carpet and betrays any innocence by tucking his tail between his legs, pinning his ears back, and skulking around with his head down.

Lance Simmens: One-party government where party power takes precedence and prominence over nation building, both from a societal and a physical infrastructure perspective, has overtaken our collective consciousness.

Lance Simmens: Rampant politicization of the three branches of government fueled by a charismatic leader more likely to be compared to Hitler or Mussolini than Lincoln or Roosevelt is threatening to irreparably split the nation in two

Lance Simmens: Where is the integrity, the honesty, the intestinal fortitude of individuals to simply refuse to do things they know are wrong? You will not be spared from the ridicule and disdain of your refusal as you face your own children. Shame on you.

The Middle East

David A. Love: Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs works with front groups such as the Israel Project and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) to spy on US citizens who support Palestinian rights and smear them as anti-Semites, in a covert campaign that smacks of McCarthyism and Islamophobia.